Just something i was wondering is what is horsepower of the r/t dakota, and what do they run in the 1/4 mile. Also i heard that a 5.2 v8 with the right gears can beat a r/t, is this true? The reason i was wonderin about the 1/4mile time is because i have a 97 sierra with the 350 vortec, standard cab, short bed. and i've raced a couple r/t dakota's. 1st time i killed one cause his tires were spinning through 2nd. and the 2nd race i beat one but not by that much.

The R/T's suffer from wheel spin problems. They have a 3.91 gearset and a 5.9l engine that has a huge amount of low RPM torque. A sudden push to 1/2 throttle at a stop can smoke the tires and lay rubber strips for a long ways.
Yes you can out run one with a 5.2l with 3.91 gears from a dead stop. The 5.2 has the same heads,valves,cam, intake setup and that makes it soft on the low RPM torque. For this reason you can launch more consistantly from a dead stop and even with less power, you can stay ahead of a R/T for a few seconds. With a modded 5.2l you should have no trouble blowing the doors off of a stock R/T. The R/T has 250hp, the 5.2l has 230hp (220 in some years) you can add headers and exhaust for 25HP and a MP ECU for 20HP more. You can replace the heads with MP R/T magnum heads (ported from factory) or R/T Magnum aluminum heads. The aluminum heads are configured to raise your compression from 9:1 to 10:1. These parts can be put on the 5.2 or 5.9 I've heard that you can get 320 to 330 hp and still pass emissions in the area's that require it.
Most 5.2l Dak's have a 3.55:1 gearset, making the 5.2l seem way less powerfil then the R/T. A 5.2l with the standard 3.55 gears is sluggish (compared to an R/T) taking off from a dead stop. I think this is intentional so they could create a seemingly vast difference in power between the R/T's and the other lowly models.

Thanks for the information